Quran commentary in Arabic and english

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CjCorify the Name of your Lord, the c Most Nigh, Who has created
(everything), and then proportioned it; JLnd Who has measured
(preordainmentsfor each and everything even to he 6 Cessed or wretched); then
guided (ie. showed mankind the right as wed as wrong paths, and guided the

animals to pasture);

Quran Lnafisf Translation Commentary

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JQ6dudah Yusuf jQ.fr

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Introduction and Summary

This is one of the earliest of Makkan Surahs, being usually
placed eighth in chronological order, and immediately after
Surah 81.

The argument is that Allah has made man capable of progress
by ordered steps, and by His Revelation will lead him still higher
to purification and perfection.

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C.267 (The running Commentary, in Rhythmic Prose)

Wonderful are the ways of Allah
In creation, and the love with which
He guides His creatures' destinies,

Gives them the means by which to strive
For maturity by ordered steps, and reach
The end most fitted for their natures.

His Law is just and easy, and His Grace
Is ever ready to help: let us look
To the Eternal Goal, with hearts and souls
Of Purity, and glorify His name:

For in this changing, fleeting world,

His Word is always true, and will remain,
Through all the ages, ever the same.

,aluJ

(^) ^ ^ ^ •

1. Glorify the name of thy Guardian-Lord, Most High,

C6080. The word Lord" by itself is an inadequate
rendering here for Rabb For it implies:

cherishing,

guarding from harm,

- sustaining,

- granting all the means and opportunities of
development.

See n. 20 to 1:2.

For shortness, perhaps "Guardian-Lord" will be sufficient
in the Text.

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2. Who hath created, and further, given order and

proportion;

C6081. The story of Creation is wonderful and

continuous. There are several processes which we
contemplate in glorifying Allah's name.

First, He brings us into being.

Secondly, He endows us with forms and faculties exactly
suited to what is expected of us, and to the

environments in which our life will be cast, giving to
everything due order and proportion.

(T) </4a 'J&

3. Who hath ordained laws. And granted guidance;

C6082.

Thirdly, He has ordained laws and decrees, by which we
can develop ourselves and fit ourselves into His whole
scheme of evolution for all His Creation. He has
measured exactly the needs of all, and given us instincts
and physical predispositions which fit into His decrees.

Fourthly, He gives us guidance, so that we arc not the
sport of mechanical laws. Our reason and our will are
exercised, that we may reach the higher destiny of man.

(*)

4. And Who bringeth out the (green and luscious) pasture.

C6083.

Fifthly, after maturity comes decay. But even in that
decay, as when green pasture turns to stubble, we
subserve other ends.

In so far as we are animals, we share these processes
with other forms of material Creation, animal, vegetable,
and even mineral, which all have their appointed laws of
growth and decay. But man's higher destiny is referred
to in subsequent verses.

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5. And then doth make it (but) swarthy stubble.

6. By degrees shall We teach thee to declare (the Message),

C6084. The soul, as it reaches the Light of Allah, makes
gradual progress, like a man going from darkness into
light. So the Quran was revealed by stages. So all
revelation from Allah comes by stages.

As usual, there are two parallel meanings:

1. that connected with the occasion of direct inspiration
to the holy Prophet; and

2. the more general Message to mankind for all time.
Everyone who understands the Message must declare
it, in words, and still more, in his conduct.

0) CS-^ UI ...
so thou shalt not forget,

C6085. The particular occasion was an assurance to the
Prophet, that though he was unlettered, the Message
given to him would be preserved in his heart and in the
hearts of men. The more general sense is that mankind,
having once seized great spiritual truths, will hold fast to
them, except as qualified in the following verse.

... 41)1

7. Except as Allah wills:

C6086. There can be no question of this having any
reference to the abrogation of any verses of the Quran.
For this Surah is one of the earliest revealed, being
placed about eighth according to the most accepted
chronological order. While the basic principles of Allah's
Law remain the same, its form, expression, and
application have varied from time to time, e.g., from
Moses to Jesus, and from Jesus to Muhammad. It is one
of the beneficent mercies of Allah that we should forget

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some things of the past, lest our minds become confused
and our development is retarded. Besides, Allah knows
what is manifest and what is hidden, and His Will and
Plan work with supreme wisdom and goodness.

(V) ^.iXi Uaj

For He knoweth what is manifest and what is hidden.

(A) ‘ .ul) ■ a A 3 a

8. And We will make it easy for thee (to follow) the simple

(Path).

C6087. The Path of Islam is simple and easy. It depends
on no abstruse mysteries or self-mortifications, but on
straight and manly conduct in accordance with the laws
of man's nature as implanted in him by Allah (30:30).

On the other hand, spiritual perfection may be most
difficult, for it involves complete surrender on our part to
Allah in all our affairs, thoughts, and desires: but after
that surrender Allah's Grace will make our path easy.

(<\) I

9. Therefore give admonition in case the admonition profits

(the hearer).

C6088. This is not so strong as the Biblical phrase, "Cast
not pearls before swine" (Matt. 7:6).

The cases where admonition does produce spiritual profit
and where it does not, are mentioned below in verses 10
and 11-13 respectively.

Allah's Message should be proclaimed to all: but
particular and personal admonitions are also due to
those who attend and in whose hearts is the fear of
Allah; in the case of those who run away from it and
dishonour it, such particular and personal admonition is
useless. They are the unfortunate ones who prepare
their own ruin.

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10. The admonition will be received by those who fear

(Allah):

11. But it will be avoided by those most unfortunate ones.

12. Who will enter the Great Fire,

C6089. The Great Fire is the final Penalty or Disaster in
the Hereafter, as contrasted with the minor Penalties or
Disasters from which all evil suffers from within in this
very life.

( ^ V) j Uj I g-j3 Clijxj U

13. In which they will then neither die nor live.

C6090. A terrible picture of those who ruin their whole
future by evil lives here below.

They introduce a discord into Creation, while life should
be one great universal concord. And their past clings to
them as part of their own will. They are not even like the
dry swarthy stubble mentioned in verse 5 above, which
grew naturally out of the luscious pasture, for they have
grown harmful, in defiance of their own nature. "Neither
die nor live-:

Cf. 20:74.

... ;rlif iS

14. But those will prosper...

C6091. Prosper, in the highest sense; attain to Bliss or
Salvation; as opposed to "enter the Fire.

0 £ ) i> ...

...who purify themselves.

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C6092. The first process in godliness is to cleanse
ourselves in body, mind, and Soul. Then we shall be in a
fit state to see and proclaim the Glory of Allah. That
leads us to our actual absorption in Praise and Prayer.

15. And glorify the name of their Guardian-Lord, and (lift
their hearts) in Prayer.

UjjaII allaJI (Jj

16. Nay (behold),

ye prefer the life of this world;

0 v ) Jtfj

17. But the Hereafter is better and more enduring.

(1 A) Jjtll L jklal l & (jl

18. And this is in the Books of the earliest (Revelations) --

C6093. The law of righteousness and godliness is not a
new law, nor are the vanity and short duration of this
world preached here for the first time. But spiritual
truths have to be renewed and reiterated again and
again.

19. The Books of Abraham and Moses.

C6094. No Book of Abraham has come down to us. But
the Old Testament recognises that Abraham was a
prophet (Gen. 20:7).

There is a book in Greek, which has been translated by
Mr. G.H. Box, called the Testament of Abraham
(published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian
Knowledge, London, 1927). It seems to be a Greek
translation of a Hebrew original. The Greek Text was
probably written in the second Christian century, in
Egypt, but in its present form it probably goes back only
to the 9th or 10th Century. It was popular among the

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Christians. Perhaps the Jewish Midrash also refers to a
Testament of Abraham.

C6095. The original Revelation of Moses, of which the
Present Pentateuch is a surviving recension.

See Appendix II .

The present Gospels do not come under the definition of
the "earliest- Books. Nor could they be called "Books of
Jesus': they were written not by him, but about him, and
long after his death.

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Zahid Javed Rana, Abid Javed Rana

Lahore, Pakistan
www.quran4u.com

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